House Buying Collective????

[whartonski]

Spinning off from Andy Hamilton's eco village post, here's the idea:

In brief, form house-buying collectives of as many people as possible & see whether that collective bargaining power can be used to persuade councils and other housing authorities to offer in bulk properties in 'undesirable' areas*, with the aim of re-invigorating problem estates, villages, or what have you.

* ideally, areas which have not yet reached the stage of open gun & knife warfare, but are suffering possibly from petty crime, drugs, and so on.

For inspiration see:
http://www.journallive.co.uk/north-east ... _page.html

Or look at the example of Hebden Bridge in West Yorkshire, which a few years ago was just another run-down mill town; and is now an artists and hippies mecca - thanks to a few hippy artists moving there and it just snowballing.


I see the plan as:

1) Scope to see if members are seriously interested in forming house-buying collectives & the areas of interest (national, regional or sub-regional).

2) Establish list(s) of people interested in principal.

3) Approach local authorities, housing associations & housing co-ops to see if they have any prospective areas.

4) Take the negotiations from there...(maybe look for a rental option with a guaranteed right to buy at a discounted price within a certain timeframe)


I reckon that it's a possible go-er. Maybe not every region has the sort of area that could benefit, but it'll cost nothing to express an interest and see where it leads to. I'd be happy to lead on it in the first instance and may/may not want to be one of the beneficiaries if a suitable area could be identified.

One possible concern is that I would want to select people for the collective(s) who were genuinely community spirited (i.e broadly in tune withe the Ish philosophy) & if word got out that it was an opportunity for people to get cheap houses it might attract people for what I might sniffily call the 'wrong' reasons.


If interested, please reply to this post with:

1) any issues, concerns or possible downsides, or factors to consider.

2) an idea of your area of interest by: nationally; regionally; or sub regionally.

3) Your maximum financial input & wether a mortgage would be a requirement.



Just an idea, but you never know....


Best wishes

Michael